Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Guest Blog
Michael Unger
a.k.a Johnny tomorrow

Michael Unger - Johnny Tomorrow With Harold the Zeiss Projector

I am a collection of molecules called Johnny Tomorrow and I am a traveler of time and space. In the summer of 1983 I saw Return of the Jedi in the theatre which became a seminal moment of my childhood, forever establishing my place in the Star Wars Generation. It was a phrase I coined after Neil DeGrasse Tyson extolled on the virtues of the Apollo Generation, young people who witnessed the incredible achievements of the Apollo space missions thus propelling them towards ambitious undertakings that have changed our society. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, James Cameron, Sally Ride, Richard Branson are just a few among in that club. For my generation though instead of being inspired by actual events rooted in science and exploration, we were inspired by science fiction, movies, music, books, and video games. Even if Star Wars wasn’t really the impetus it was probably some other forms of fictional entertainment that has led us away from the dreams of real space exploration that those of the Apollo generation did. But what Star Wars did for me was set me on my own inner exploration of the cosmos. It planted the idea in my head of distant alien civilizations, and eventually I began seeking out deeper science fiction which led me back to experience something that the Apollo generation would have seen in 1968: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Going back in time and witnessing the Apollo moon landing doesn’t have the same effect if you know it has already happened, but if you’ve never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey you can come close to that feeling of experiencing space science fiction at it’s greatest. The future wasn’t quite what Kubrick and author Arthur C. Clarke had in mind, we’ve taken a bit of detour, but we need to get back to visions of infinity and beyond.

On July 13 at 8pm the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre will be presenting 2001: A Space Odyssey inside the planetarium theatre. The planetarium also opened in 1968 which makes it an appropriate venue to revisit this 44 year old classic. I also premiered “Johnny Tomorrow and the Way of the Planetarium” for the 2010 Vancouver Fringe Festival in that same theatre. Stay tuned for the next installment The Johnny Tomorrow Chronicles within the next year.


The Ramans do everything in threes